title: Hemispheric differences in the processing of attachment words.
abstract: Inconsistent findings regarding the valence hypothesis might relate to ambiguously valenced stimuli used in some studies. To account for this potential caveat, we used positive and negative attachment words. A total of 50 participants made lexical decisions in a bilateral simultaneous presentation paradigm. Results showed a general right-visual-field advantage for lexical decisions and a general superiority for positive over negative words. Crucially, we found a left-visual-field advantage for positive over negative words. Results oppose the valence hypothesis, but support a specific role of the right hemisphere in emotional processing, in particular when dealing with positive interpersonal relationship information.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, 12a Priory Road, Bristol, BS8 1TU, UK. christine.mohr@bris.ac.uk
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mohr
authors.forename: Angela C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Rowe
authors.forename: Matthew T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Crawford
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012660:Semantics; D014825:Vocabulary